Disturbing surge of hate crimes |
A new report on hate crime statistics released by the FBI Nov. 13 reveals a disturbing surge of hate crimes against the Indian American community, particularly Muslims and Sikhs. The report compiled data from more than 16,149 participating law enforcement agencies across the country, who used the Uniform Crime Report, which – as of 2016 – includes data specifically about the number of hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus, and Buddhists. Though the number of hate crime incidents increased in 2017, the number of reporting agencies also increased by more than 1,000, noted the FBI in the release of the report. Participating law enforcement agencies reported 7,175 hate crimes to UCR in 2017, up from 6,121 in 2016, about a 17 percent increase. The largest number of incidents involved race, ancestry, and ethnicity, in which African Americans were overwhelmingly the victims, with 2,358 reported offenses and 2,458 victims. A total of 152 anti-Asian hate crimes were reported in this category. Incidents related to religion constituted the second highest number of reported hate crimes, with 1564 incidents and 1,749 victims. Jewish people were overwhelmingly the targets; more than 1,000 Jews were victimized for their religious beliefs.
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